Public employees protest statistical authority following low wage rises

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Public employees' unions yesterday (January 4) organized a demonstration in the capital city of Ankara to protest the country's statistical authority for the official inflation rate announced a day before.

Members of the Confederation of Public Employees' Trade Unions (KESK) initially attempted to gather outside of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) building but were not allowed by the police.

They then gathered in a nearby park, displaying a banner that read, "We are getting poorer with TurkStat data."

Kablan Yeşil, co-chair of KESK, said, "The raise announced as good news is not a raise. It will come back at us with more poverty and misery."

"TurkStat laid the groundwork for the loss in the wages of the workers. It acts upon the directives of the ruling power," he remarked.

The inflation rate dropped from over 84 percent to 64 percent due to the base effect, which affected public employees' salary raises for 2023.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan yesterday announced that the raise would be increased to 30 percent from the previously announced rate of 25 percent.

Experts and opposition politicians have long questioned the accuracy of the TurkStat figures, especially those of inflation and unemployment. According to the Inflation Research Group (ENAG), a group of economists, the inflation rate was 138 percent in December, down from 170 percent a month ago. (HA/VK)